Speaking after the sentencing at Derby Crown Court yesterday, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Stokes said: "We are really pleased with the result – firstly because the victims were brave enough to come forward to police and have now seen justice and closure on what they were subjected to.

"Secondly because the convictions have come about due to the tremendous work the investigating team did.

"And thirdly because the message that crimes such as this are happening in Derby and Derbyshire is getting out to the public, raising their awareness."

Stefan Godfrey, 44, of George Street, Pinxton, was convicted by jury of paying a 15-year-old girl on two occasions for sex knowing or believing she was underage.

He was jailed for six years.

Anthony Lambert, 51, of Warren Street, Derby, was found guilty of paying for sex twice with the same girl.

She said she drank alcohol, smoked cannabis, ate a kebab and watched a film at his house. He also gave her money towards a new mobile phone.

He was jailed for six years.

John Shaw, 54, lives in a caravan on a farm in Kniveton. He was found guilty of paying the same girl for sexual activity on two occasions at Sinfin golf course, when she was 15.

He was found not guilty of assaulting the girl when she told him she did not want to have sex with him.

Shaw was jailed for four years and 11 months.Video footage of John Shaw checking two victims into a hotel in Derby in 2010 was shown during the trial.

Mark Adaoui, 40, Carlton Road, Derby, was found guilty of paying a different 15-year-old girl on two occasions to perform a sex act on him in his car.

He brought cannabis along and they smoked it together.

He was jailed for seven years.

Ijaz Ahmed, 35, of Becher Street, Derby, was found guilty of paying two different girls for sex when they were 15.

He was jailed for six years.

Colin Simpson, 55, of Old School Lane, Cresswell, Worksop, had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of paying for sexual services of a 15-year-old girl and was jailed for four years.

Ian Yeoman, 49, of Mortimer Street, Derby, had also previously pleaded guilty to 12 counts of paying for sexual services of two different 15-year-old girls and was given four years and eight months.

David Shardlow, 56, of Charlbury Close, Derby, pleaded guilty to nine counts of paying for sexual services of two girls aged 15 and possessing indecent images of children. He was jailed for four years.

Sentencing the men, Judge John Gosling distanced the crimes to similar ones in 2010, when 13 men were jailed for up to 22 years for a total of 70 offences in a police investigation known as Operation Retriever.

Judge Gosling said: "I am not dealing with a team of predators and there are no allegations that they forced themselves on the girls.

"But you did not only take advantage of these vulnerable girls, you did so to satisfy your middle-aged desires to have sex with them and you were prepared to pay the paltry sums they charged."

In victim impact statements read out in the court Mark Achurch, prosecuting, said one of the girls felt her "trust in males was (now) non-existent" while another said she "could not wait for the sentencing as it would be the first day of the rest of her life".

Safe and Sound Derby helps children and young people who are being, or who are at risk of being sexually exploited and worked with two of the victims in the case and the parents of one of the victims.

Speaking outside court Nathalie Walters, chief executive, said: "The men involved in this case were sexual predators who targeted and preyed upon vulnerable young girls.

"We hope that the sentences handed down to them today send a clear message out that child sexual exploitation will not be tolerated.

"The girls had to wait for two years to come to court where they had to relive their horrific ordeal in front of the very men who exploited them.

"Hopefully these sentences will provide some comfort to the victims and their parents and help them to move on with their lives."